Anti-Forensics and Anti-Anti-Forensics - perklin.ca

60 Pages·2012·4.98 MB·English

by  Michael Perklin

Anti-Forensics
and Anti-Anti-Forensics
by Michael Perklin
(But not Anti-Anti-Anti-Forensics)
(...or Uncle-Forensics...)
Outline
Techniques that can complicate digital-forensic
examinations
Methodologies to mitigate these techniques
Other digital complications
This talk will deal with a variety of complications that can arise in a
digital investigation
Michael Perklin
Digital Forensic Examiner
Corporate Investigator
Computer Programmer
eDiscovery Consultant
Basically - A computer geek + legal support hybrid
Techniques in this talk...
Most of these techniques are NOT sophisticated
Each one can easily be defeated by an investigator
The goal of these techniques is to add man-hours/$$$
High costs increase chances of settlement
Wiping a hard drive, or using steganography will not be discussed
because they’ve been around for decades
Typical Methodologies:
Copy First, Ask Questions Later
Typically Law Enforcement
Assess relevance first, copy relevant
All types of investigators
Remote analysis of live system,
copy targeted evidence only.
Enterprise, Private if they have help
Methodology #1 is typically used by police
Methodology #2 is used by all types of digital investigators
Methodology #3 is typically used by Enterprise companies on their
employees
“Assess Relevance” method typically searches an HDD for one of a
few specific keywords. If found, the HDD is imaged for further analysis.
Typical Workflow
Create Process “Separate
Working Data For Wheat from
Copy Analysis Chaff”
Analyze Prepare
Archive Data
Data for Report on
For Future
Relevance Findings
Create Working Copy
! - Image the HDD
! - Copy files remotely for analysis
Process Data
! - Hash files
! - Analyze Signatures
Separate Wheat
! - De-NIST or De-NSRL
! - Known File Filter (KFF)
! - Keyword Searches
Analyze For Relevance
! - Good hits or false positives?
! - Look at photos, read documents, analyze spreadsheets
! - Export files for native analysis
! - Bookmark, Flag, or otherwise list useful things
Prepare Report
! - Include thumbnails, snapshots, or snippets
! - Write-up procedures (Copy/Paste from similar case to speed up workload)
! - Attach appendices, lists, etc
Archive Data
! - Store images on central NAS
! - Shelve HDDs for future use
Classic Anti-Forensic
Techniques
HDD Scrubbing / File Wiping
Overwriting areas of disk over and over
Encryption
TrueCrypt, PGP, etc.
Physical Destruction
These 3 methods are fairly common amongst people like us
In reality, these are used rarely.
Each method implies guilt, and can be dealt with without tech.
Running Tallies on Slides
Tally of # Hours Wasted will be at bottom left
Tally of # Dollars Spent will be at bottom right
I will assume an average rate of $300/hr for the
digital investigator’s time
Red tallies indicate costs for current technique
Green tallies show total costs to-date
0 hours $0
$300/hr rate is fairly average for junior-intermediate investigators
#1. Create a Working Copy
Confounding the first stage of the process
“Separate
Create Process Data
Wheat from
Working Copy For Analysis
Chaff”
Analyze Data Prepare Report Archive Data
for Relevance on Findings For Future
0 hours $0
Copy each device for later analysis
...or copy the file from the remote live machine
AF Technique #1
Data Saturation
Let’s start simple:
Own a LOT of media
Stop throwing out devices
Use each device/container regularly if possible
Investigators will need to go through everything
8 hours $2,400
Cell Phones
Laptops
Old HDDs
USB Keys
Burned CD/DVDs